Unholy Read online

  Unholy

  A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller

  Kellee L. Greene

  Contents

  Mailing List

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Final Note

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Ravaged Land - Preview

  Ravaged Land - Chapter one

  Ravaged Land - Chapter two

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 Kellee L. Greene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author.

  First Edition April 2018

  Mailing List

  Sign up for Kellee L. Greene’s newsletter for new releases, sales, cover reveals and more!

  Coming Soon…

  Book two in the Falling Darkness series is in the works! Please subscribe to the mailing list to be one of the first to know when it’s available! And follow Kellee L. Greene on Facebook.

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Falling Darkness Series

  Unholy

  Ravaged Land: Divided Series

  The Last Disaster - Book 1

  The Last Remnants - Book 2

  The Last Struggle - Book 3

  Ravaged Land Series

  Ravaged Land -Book 1

  Finding Home - Book 2

  Crashing Down - Book 3

  Running Away - Book 4

  Escaping Fear - Book 5

  Fighting Back - Book 6

  The Island Series

  The Island - Book 1

  The Fight - Book 2

  The Escape - Book 3

  The Erased - Book 4

  The Alien Invasion Series

  The Landing - Book 1

  The Aftermath - Book 2

  Destined Realms Series

  Destined - Book 1

  1

  Some said the end of the world started when a virus that had been created as a weapon spread rapidly through a secret facility and infected everyone. Others said it was because of a mutated bacteria that devoured people from the inside out. There was a third group that said it was to punish humanity for their countless years of sins. It was those people that Kate Black lived with.

  She’d spent most of her days gathered with the others to pray at the church, hiding inside her hotel room or out on a run. Kate would come back with the group before dark, soaked in blood, of course, it wasn’t her blood. She was the best at eradicating The Unholy, and the whole town knew it, if she hadn’t been, she doubted they would have bothered to keep her around.

  “Kneel,” Simon commanded in his familiar, deep, authoritative voice. It pulled at each one of Kate’s nerve endings. She hopped out of the back of the pickup truck after the others. “Let me cleanse you of your tumultuous day’s work and bless you with the holy water of our Father.”

  Kate bit her lip, trying not to roll her eyes as she dropped down to a knee. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in God, of course, she did, but she didn’t believe in Simon’s God.

  Ethan pulled back his shoulders and looked around, taking his time before he dropped down to his knee next to Kate. Simon’s eyes were on Ethan, but he remained calm for once waiting for Ethan to obey.

  It was no secret that Simon disliked Ethan. Kate believed Simon disliked her too, but he absolutely hated Ethan. One time, Kate had overheard Simon telling his second in command that it was only a matter of time before he’d be able to come up with an excuse to smother the demons inside Ethan. In other words, he wanted him dead. But that had been months ago, and Ethan was still here, wearing his usual cocky grin.

  Kate still wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about Ethan. Sometimes she was impressed by how he handled everything, and other times his arrogance annoyed her immensely. But it didn’t matter, Ethan was the least of her problems.

  Simon stepped in front of Kate and touched the bottom of her chin with his fingertip to raise her head. “My beautiful, Kate, please look at me when I stand before you.”

  Kate’s head bobbed slightly, but her lips were pressed tightly together. She held his gaze even though all she could think about was the truck that was parked a few feet away from her.

  It wouldn’t be hard for her to knock Simon down and make a run for it. The only problem with Kate’s plan was that it was quite possible they’d taken the keys out of the ignition. She was fairly certain she’d be faster than Simon and his guards, and she’d be gone before they could even aim their guns. They were all terrible shots, except for Ethan, but Kate knew he wouldn’t shoot. Ethan was more likely to jump in the back and help her escape because he knew how Simon felt about him.

  Then again, Ethan had been here long before Kate arrived. He followed orders even though he was brash about it.

  Simon shifted his weight from one leg to the other. His belted jeans hung low on his hips, and he was shirtless, as he often was, to display the rosary tattoo that circled his neck. The rosary wasn’t his only tattoo, he had several others including a pistol on his right bicep and a snake that circled around his arm, wearing the same awful grin Simon often wore.

  Kate blinked several times when Simon sprinkled water off of the tips of his fingers. He dipped them into the ceramic bowl he was holding and sprinkled her in the face again. She was nearly positive he did it twice just to piss her off.

  “Let God take away the terrible memories of your day’s work. May he continue to guide you and keep you safe from The Unholy.” Simon sprinkled the water again, and Kate bit her cheek hard.

  “Amen,” Kate said clasping her hands tightly together, holding them as still as she could in front of her chest. Simon moved down the line blessing and cleansing the other members of her team as they held their positions waiting until he was finished.

  She could feel Ethan’s body twitching next to her, but she did everything she could to ignore it. It was hard for Kate to kneel before Simon, it must have been absolute torture for a guy like Ethan to do it.

  “Amen!” Ethan said loudly as he stood up when Simon finished the cleanse. Simon’s eyes were like pointy daggers that darted over to Ethan, and it appeared as though he was trying to decide how he wanted to react. Kate let out a quick breath when Simon turned away and chose to ignore Ethan. She was standing far too close to him and didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire.

  “Maya and the others have prepared a glorious dinner, please, go on, feast,” Simon said waving a hand toward the church.

  If Kate’s stomach had allowed, she would have made an excuse to exit early, but after fighting The Unholy for more than half of the day, she had no choice
but to follow along. The Way, what Simon called his group of followers and their way of life, controlled the entire fenced in portion of the city. His business associate, Rosalie, controlled the nearby city to the east and for the time being there was a truce between the two groups, but from what Kate had heard, it hadn’t always been that way.

  There had been some kind of disagreement between Rosalie and Simon, which almost resulted in a war, but thankfully it had been resolved. Since Kate had been with The Way, she’d only ever heard him say nice things about Rosalie.

  When the disease spread and took out most of humanity, everyone was fighting for their lives. It was every man and woman for themselves. Many died. And even more became diseased.

  There were people like Kate that hid and waited it out. It was just too bad that she hadn’t been able to hide forever. Eventually, The Way found her, and converted her, not that she’d had a choice in the matter. Kate had agreed because her survival instincts convinced her to do so and based on what she’d seen since, she knew her instincts had been right.

  Simon never got his hands dirty, most of the time it was Kate’s team that had to bring in the converts. Those that refused were to be eliminated so that they couldn’t become infected and put The Way in danger. Simon claimed it was the right thing to do for his people. But most of the time Kate’s team only ever came across The Unholy, and not other survivors.

  There were other teams that also worked to wipe out The Unholy and find survivors, but Kate’s team was the best, and everyone knew it. Simon knew it.

  Kate didn’t dare argue with Simon no matter what he ordered. She chose her battles carefully as she waited for the day she could find her way out of the city and as far away from Simon and The Way as possible.

  What waited for her outside of the city wasn’t anything she really looked forward to either. More of The Unholy scattered around, desperate to spread their disease, but that’s why Kate continued to fight. As far as she was concerned it was training. Training for the day she escaped The Way for good.

  Ethan jabbed his elbow into Kate’s side. “Good job out there today. How many did you get? Six? Seven?”

  “Thirteen,” Kate said without turning toward Ethan. Every day it was like a competition. Every day Ethan wanted to kill more of The Unholy than Kate, and every day he was disappointed.

  “Damn, eleven.”

  “Eleven less of them out there,” Kate said walking past Simon who was holding the church door open.

  “You’re terrible at math,” Ethan teased. “Twenty-four less.”

  Kate blew out a puff of air. “That’s if no one else got any.”

  “Benji, Wayne, and Tommy are lucky to get one collectively.”

  “Give them some credit,” Kate said stepping into line to grab a plate of food. “They haven’t been doing this as long as either of us.”

  Ethan snorted. “None of us have been doing it for very long at all.”

  “Longer than I’d like,” Kate said nodding her thanks at the scraggly haired woman scooping the food.

  Kate stepped away from the line hoping to lose Ethan. She preferred to eat alone, but so rarely so often did she get the opportunity. There was always someone around, which was one of the many things Kate disliked about being part of The Way.

  The tables in the basement cafeteria were lined in perfect rows, all of them filled with at least one other person. Kate sat at the opposite end of the table of an elderly man she’d seen around but didn’t know his name. He didn’t look up from his tray to acknowledge her which was exactly what Kate hoped would happen.

  She kept her eyes on her spoon when a gentle hush rippled over the crowd. Simon was holding his hands up in the air, his palms outward as he faced everyone.

  “We must thank the Lord for our food,” he said chuckling. “I know, I know, everyone is hungry, but without Him, none of this would be possible.”

  Kate thought back to the day she’d been found and was brought to the city to meet Simon. Even though she didn’t keep track of time, Kate was certain it couldn’t have been more than a day over a year since she’d been part of The Way.

  If she hadn’t been in such rough shape, she would have tried to escape, but Kate had been starving. She didn’t fear what was out there, but she did fear death. Especially if that meant turning into what the others had become.

  Kate never had a name for the diseased, but Simon and his people had called them The Unholy. They were the work of the devil, and they needed to be exterminated. It was why they’d been spared, to do God’s work and eradicate the demons.

  The only reason Kate had agreed to join The Way was because her stomach had forced her to. She’d been low on food for a few days, and they’d told her how plentiful their supplies were. Now, she wished she would have been able to ignore her hunger and face whatever would have been her destiny had they not found her curled up into a ball, shivering as she hid in a closet.

  Ethan never met that sad version of Kate. He’d only known the one that could hold a blade in each hand and easily take out two of The Unholy at once. Simon, however, had seen her at her weakest, and she hated that he had.

  When Simon lowered his hands, everyone mumbled their amen, which visibly pleased Simon. Maya, Simon’s Second in command, stood slightly to his right, her rightful place, bobbing her head at everything he said. Her role as far as Kate was concerned was to agree with everything Simon said.

  If anything ever happened to Simon, Maya was supposed to step in and take over, but Kate knew the woman didn’t have it in her. She was pretty sure that Maya had never had to eradicate any of The Unholy, but it didn’t really matter, because all Kate really wanted was to escape. She didn’t give a shit who was or would be in charge of The Way.

  Simon stepped up to the table and placed his fingers on the edge of the table. There was so much dirt under his fingernails Kate was tempted to gag.

  “Kate,” Simon said lifting his hand and lightly touching her onyx hair. Kate had to hold back the urge to recoil. “When you’re finished, I need to see you in my office.”

  “No problem,” Kate said staring into his dirty-hazel eyes. “May I ask what this is regarding?”

  “You may,” Simon said chuckling, “but I’m not going to be able to answer.”

  Kate forced a smile that was supposed to match Simon’s, but she was pretty sure she’d failed. “Of course.”

  She quickly shoveled some of the slop into her mouth and chewed it for far longer than it needed to be.

  “Don’t keep me waiting,” Simon said, tapping his knuckles against the table.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Kate said blinking several times.

  Ethan practically dropped his tray down on the table. “What was that all about?”

  “I don’t know, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough,” Kate said sighing as she slowly chewed another spoon full of food.

  If there was anything worse than talking with Simon, it was talking with Simon alone.

  2

  The outside door at Simon’s office was guarded with two men, each holding a rifle. They both tightened their grip as Kate approached even though neither of them looked in her direction.

  Kate had been told that Simon’s office had been specially built for him by his followers only months before Kate had joined The Way. It was always locked, and the only time anyone was allowed inside was if Simon invited them.

  Everyone else that lived in Simon’s city had to find a room in the hotel, sharing in one of the approved houses, or sleep on the ground. The Way had secured a large hotel, and the roads in the city were patrolled day and night, even though The Unholy never made it this far into Simon’s territory. Thanks to the work Kate and the others on the eradication team accomplished outside the fence.

  Simon had several teams working for him. There were guards and a patrol team, those who cooked and cleaned, and then there were those that actually dealt with keeping The Unholy out of the area… the eradication teams, like Kat
e’s.

  The Way had a doctor, but he couldn’t be troubled for anything other illness and minor injuries. If there was blood, and a chance the person may be infected, the person was quarantined in which case there were two possible outcomes… eventually surviving the injury or dying. They may die as a result of the injury depending on the severity, or the patient may become infected in which case they would be killed on the spot. Since The Way only had the one doctor, he was well protected because Simon didn’t want to lose him.

  Kate looked out of the corner of her eye as she raised up her hand to knock on Simon’s door. The man to her left kept his eyes forward. They’d been expecting her.

  She balled up her fist and hit the door hard with her whitened knuckles. Kate waited, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling that was building inside of her. As she was about to knock again, she heard movement near the door.

  “You may enter,” Simon said.

  Kate bit the inside of her cheek as she glanced over at the guard. If only she had the nerve to disarm him and take out Simon Rollins for good. Kate wasn’t even sure if she’d be called a hero by the followers of The Way or if they’d call her a traitor. She feared it would be the latter.